Trump Seeks to Re-Occupy Bagram Base in Afghanistan, Taliban Rejects
US President Donald Trump announced Thursday that his administration is working to re-establish control over Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan, the massive installation abandoned by American forces in 2021. Speaking alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House, Trump described the withdrawal under former president Joe Biden as “irresponsible” and said the base’s location makes it strategically vital. “One of the biggest airbases in the world. We gave it to them for nothing. We’re trying to get it back, by the way,” Trump said. “It’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons.” Bagram, located an hour north of Kabul, served as the largest American outpost during the two-decade US occupation of Afghanistan, hosting more than 100,000 troops at the height of the war. Its closure in July 2021 preceded the collapse of the US-backed Afghan government and the Taliban’s return to power weeks later. Taliban officials swiftly rejected Trump’s remarks. Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Zakir Jalal wrote on social media that any US return was “impossible,” citing the Doha Agreement signed with Washington in 2020. “The Afghan people have never accepted a foreign military presence,” Jalal said, stressing that Kabul remains open to political and economic relations with the United States, but only on the basis of “mutual respect and shared interests.” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has previously stated that the airfield is under Afghan control and not, as Trump has claimed, “occupied by China.” Army Chief of Staff Fasihuddin Fitrat has also ruled out negotiations, insisting that “even a single foreign soldier on Afghan soil” would be unacceptable. CNN reported that discussions within Washington over regaining access to Bagram began as early as March, with US officials highlighting its potential role in surveillance of China, counterterrorism operations against ISIS, and access to Afghanistan’s rare earth mineral reserves. The United States first seized Bagram after invading Afghanistan in October 2001 following the September 11 attacks. Over 900,000 people, including tens of thousands of Afghan civilians, were killed during the 20-year war, according to estimates by Brown University’s Costs of War project.
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